Religion: The doubting parent's guide to the holidays

Answering awkward questions is an inevitable part of parenting: Where did I come from? Why doesn't Santa ever die? Why is that lady so big?

Often, though, the toughest questions are about God and religion. For parents who are not religious, the holidays highlight those queries and at times make us second-guess our choices.

It's one thing to be ambivalent about religion yourself, but as parents, we want to make sure we expose our children to as many different views as possible.

"It's easy when you're childless to sort of float and do what you think is right for you," said Dale McGowan, author of "Parenting Beyond Belief," (Amazon, $17.95). "As soon as you have kids, all those questions come to the fore. A number of friends of mine were entirely nonreligious, but once they had kids, they felt that they ought to be going to church."

Other parents have the added stress of trying to navigate a holiday of another faith, because Christmas is so pervasive this time of year.

We spoke with McGowan and other experts about how to expose children to the religious traditions of the holidays without compromising your beliefs. Here are some of their suggestions.

-- Be honest about your doubts, and ask them what they think.

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The questions don't need to cause anxiety for parents, McGowan said. Just be honest with your child and tell him that many people celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, but you don't. Then give him a chance to talk about what makes the most sense to him.

"They need to know that most of the people around them see the world through a religious lens," said McGowan, who lives in Atlanta.

"Every time I make a statement about what I think is true, I let them know that others think differently and that they get to make up their own minds. It's not necessary to put blinders on them and not let them see the religious aspect of the holidays. That would be strange."

-- Take your children to religious services during the holidays. Andrew Park, the self-described "faith-free dad" who wrote "Between a Church and a Hard Place" (Avery, $26), says he and his wife take their children to services at different churches on Christmas Eve to expose them to a variety of faiths and customs.

"Christmas Eve is an opportunity to experience what religion means to people other than their parents," said Park, who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C. "The greater the variety of the experiences, the better. It gives them context and understanding about religion. That's powerful. Whether they become believers in a faith or not, having that understanding helps them become citizens of the world."

-- Read biblical stories. Even if you don't believe in the Bible as a literal text, many of the stories are still fascinating and can capture children's imaginations. Read the story of Christmas and talk about it in the context of history or ancient mythology.

"There's something about the Christian story that is very engaging to a kid," Park said.

He also noted that his two children, ages 8 and 10, are starting to make connections between the practice of modern religion and the way it was practiced in ancient societies, how it's portrayed in fantasy literature, and the role it has played in history.

-- Make it secular. Nothing says you have to observe Christmas or Hanukkah as religious holidays, McGowan said.

If you are ambivalent about religion, you can make the holidays a celebration of family and generosity. Or focus on the celebration of light, or Santa and cookies.

"What some parents find is they pop back into the church and it really doesn't satisfy what they're looking for, so they look for secular ways to fulfill those needs," McGowan said. "They are looking for ways to have important landmarks in their lives or rites of passage, and there are lots of equivalents that are entirely humanistic: naming ceremonies for babies, coming of age ceremonies around age 13."